Trinidad And Tobago Rulers Face Their Greatest Electoral Challenge

December 14, 1986|United Press International

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- The ruling People`s National Movement, which has governed one of the richest Caribbean states for 30 years, faces its greatest electoral challenge from an opposition united behind the slogan, ``It`s time for a change.``

About 857,000 are eligible to vote in Trinidad and Tobago parliamentary elections Monday.

Recent polls have indicated that a four-party coalition called the National Alliance for Reconstruction could defeat the People`s National Movement in a significant number of its traditional strongholds.

The alliance, formed just a year ago, is led by A.N.R. Robinson, a dynamic former deputy prime minister who says he will seek closer ties with Washington, in contrast to the traditionally aloof stance adopted by the ruling party.

Prime Minister George Chambers, a low key politician who led the ruling party to an easy victory in the 1981 elections, was so rattled by the campaign that he threatened legal action against the state-owned television and radio stations, citing biased reporting.

One of his objections was the amount of air time devoted to a song whose title was similar to the opposition slogan: ``It`s time for a change.``

The shift stems in part from public discontent over the economic decline caused by dropping oil revenues, which at one time boosted Trinidadian per capita income to third highest in the Western hemisphere.

The former British colony, which gained independence in 1962, lies 20 miles off Venezuela.

The opposition charges the ruling party squandered billions of dollars in oil profits that poured into the country for a decade beginning in the early 1970s, fueling a spending spree on expensive imported goods.

When oil prices began dropping, the economy went into shock. Unemployment has risen to 15 percent -- still low for the Caribbean -- and annual economic growth has been negative since 1983.

In the past three years, 30,000 people have been thrown out of work by cutbacks in government jobs and private industry.

The ruling party, which came to power in 1956, holds 26 of the 36 parliamentary seats.